Even though the Electoral College officially ratified a win for Joe Biden, the debacle shows that little to nothing has been done to improve the current voting system in the age of technological advancement.
Some of the most prominent analysts in the cryptocurrency industry believe that blockchain technology could revolutionize the way people cast ballots. Given the immutability of the distributed ledger, it can provide a more secure and more accessible way for people to perform their basic civic duty without anyone’s ability to intervene in the process.
Multiple firms in the blockchain space are working on a system that provides such an efficient technique for block formation and sealing, data collection, and result declaration while ensuring security and privacy.
In theory, a voter would use a tamper-proof personal ID token and place it into the candidate’s election wallet. Such procedure would be permanently recorded on the blockchain providing an open public inspection mechanism that maintains transparency. From voters’ registration to the verification of voter identity, ballot casting, and vote counting, the whole process can be stored in a chain of ordered blocks validated by network participants.
With every step of the voting course being inspected by several independent validators, elections would become harder to rig.
Despite the many benefits that blockchain presents to the current voting system, some disadvantages cannot be disregarded. An online-based voting system requires a malware-free digital device and internet access, which is not a given for every voter. It also does not prevent interested parties from vote-buying.
Regardless of the few points of failure that a blockchain-based voting system can have, it certainly increases voting integrity. By requiring the prearranged consensus, there is only a very tiny room for fraud or manipulation during the election.
